The bells of Rouen are ringing

Even after seven days here, I still feel a slight chill when I hear the bells of Rouen ring each hour. I assume the call is coming from la cathedral de Notre Dame, but since there is a gorgeous, several-hundred year old church around almost corner, it is difficult to decipher.

La Cathedral de Notre Dame, or often referred to as the Rouen Cathedral, was made famous by Claude Monet, as he completed over 25 paintings of its facade during different times of day. Unfortunately, a large portion of the facade is currently under repairs, but it is still breathtaking.



Today, I saw its interior and went on a tour. My guide spoke almost no English, and I found his French harder to understand than most. Throughout the tour, he kept looking at and me and giving me little snippets of English/French history, where it was relevant to the history of the Cathedral. Eventually, he acted shocked when I said I didn't know a certain city in England. Finally I realized: He thinks I'm British! So when I explained I was from les Etats-Unis, he wasn't as offended about my lack of knowledge in English history and geography.

I also toured Le Gros Horloge, built in 1389 and one of the oldest clocks in Europe. I enjoyed a great panorama of the city from the top of its bell tower; I could see my neighborhood of Mont Saint Aignan. Earlier this morning, finding Le Vieux Marche - the Old Market - was wonderful. Fresh vegetables and every type of cheese imaginable, a vegetarian's French paradise! My tour de Rouen finished at L'iglise de Jeanne D'Arc (Joan of Arc), a beautiful, very interesting (architecturally) church built in the 1970s, with stained glass windows that had been saved from a 16th century church that was mostly destroyed by Axis forces during WWII. The funniest, and most embarrassing, moment of the day was when I attempted to ask a priest if I pay him for the informational brochure about the church. He laughed and pointed to a coin box - he was there for confessions!

But much of my time here, thus far, has been organizing and starting my classes here. The school is ESC Rouen (L'Ecole Superieure de Commerce a Rouen), but it's name was recently changed to the Rouen Business School, in order to make it seem more "international". Personally, I prefer ESC Rouen much more.

Last Wednesday and Thursday consisted of an intensive session of French. I tested into the 3rd of 6 levels of French, and I was fine with that considering I've taken French only a year now. However, I was also informed that my Civilisation Francaise class-starting tomorrow-would have students from levels 3-6 in it. Meaning, of course, that I'm the least knowledgeable in my class. That should be interesting!

My intensive session consisted of quite an interesting group. There were 4 Americans, 3 Columbians, 1 Canadian, 1 German, and 1 Mexican. I found it most amusing when I understand the Columbians' and Mexican's French, and the teacher couldn't! Guess my Spanish skills helped a bit with that.

Classes start full throttle tomorrow, so I'm off to bed (and to do a bit of review of French grammar/vocab)!